Movies
[Review] Shudder’s ‘Horror Noire’ is Essential Viewing for Horror Fans
The impact of Jordan Peele’s Get Out in the creation of Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror, Shudder’s first original documentary, is evident from the start. The film opens with a disembodied voice (author/educator Tananarive Due) proclaiming “We’ve always loved horror, it’s just that horror, unfortunately, hasn’t always loved us,” and the credits roll over a selection of animated Black figures from horror history; Get Out is name-dropped as an inciting incident. Footage from the film, as well as Peele accepting the Best Original Screenplay at the 2017 Oscars and headlines in the trade papers, play as various contributors discuss the significance of Peele’s directorial debut.
At this point, the film’s thesis is spelled out by both Robin R. Means Coleman and Due: Black history is Black horror.
Means Coleman may give credit to Peele, but it’s her non-fiction book that Horror Noire draws both its name and its content from. The semi-academic historical overview of Black Horror, adapted by Danielle Burrows and Ashlee Blackwell (Graveyard Shift Sisters), is the backbone of the film, which has the timely intention of using audience and industry in Peele’s history-making film to educate audiences about an often-overlooked and under-credited aspect of the horror genre.
Burrows and Blackwell adopt a straightforward historical structure for the narrative, starting with D.W Griffiths’ The Birth of a Nation (1915) which – with its Presidential seal of approval – emboldened harmful stereotypical and racist depictions of Black characters in cinema for decades to come. From there Horror Noire advances decade by decade, touching on stereotypes in the 20s & 30s, “Otherness” in the monster films of the Atomic Age, Blaxploitation in the 70s and the arrival of new voices and opportunities in the 90s, including the intersection of Black horror and hip-hop.
The doc addresses several well-known texts from the horror canon such as George Romero’s Night Of The Living Dead (1968), Blacula (1972), and Candyman (1992) – ably exploring their cultural and historical impact with a mixture of praise (often around issues of representation) and criticism (reinforcing outdated stereotypes or tropes). More significantly, however, is the inclusion of texts that audiences may be less familiar with, including Spencer Williams’ forward-thinking films of the ’20s which showcase middle-class Black characters, as well as horror adjacent vampiric film Ganja & Hess (1973), Blaxploitation classics Abby (1974) and Scream Blacula Scream (1973), socially conscious religious horror film Def By Temptation (1990) and the recent zombie film The Girl With All Of The Gifts (2016).
Technically speaking, Horror Noire is a talking head doc, albeit with a few stylistic flourishes. Rather than strand its interviewees in a bland studio, participants sit in an empty university theatre, watching and commenting on the clips projected on the big screen in front of them. Not only does this create a sense of intimacy akin to watching movies with a group of friends, Blackwell (in a post-screening Q&A) suggested it playfully rifts on the stereotype of Black audiences talking back to the screen.
The doc boasts a wide range of Black directors and actors, several of whom are paired up, including directors Rusty Cundieff (Tales From The Hood) and Ernest Dickerson (Bones, Tales From The Crypt: Demon Knight) and famed actors Ken Foree and Keith David. Additional talent includes actors Tony Todd, Rachel True, Miguel A. Núñez Jr., Loretta Devine, Paula Jai Parker, Ken Sagoes, and Kelly Jo Minter (among others). The participants contribute their personal memories from their major project(s), as well as reactions to other films highlighted on screen. Peele – the only contributor who is shot in a separate setting (likely due to his busy schedule working on a million different projects) – also contributes a few choice soundbites.
Director Xavier Burgin wisely elects to keep the direction relatively unobtrusive, alternating between front facing and side angle shots of the interviewees and using slow pans to maintain visual intimacy. The focus is therefore on its subjects, as well as the intersection of Black horror and Black history. While there is levity and a significant amount of humour (particularly from the directors and actors), there is also an undeniable sense of anger and frustration surrounding issues of representation, job security and outdated tropes like the Sacrificial Negro, the Magical Negro, and the “first to die” narrative crutch that permeated so much of ’80s and ’90s horror.
Horror Noire is always entertaining, but more importantly, it is an opportunity to acknowledge and advance the narrative about the contributions of Black talent in front and behind the camera. The fact that the documentary ends on a hopeful note about the increased prominence of Black actors in (nuanced, complicated) leading roles, as well as easier access for a new generation of directors – both male and female – is encouraging. It’s not hyperbole to suggest that Horror Noire is essential viewing for horror audiences; not only does it boast high production values and informative interviews, audiences will undoubtedly discover a brand new curated list of essential horror films to seek out and devour.
What could be more enticing for fans of the genre?
Judging from the unprecedented box office success of Kane Parsons’ Backrooms adaptation, you’ve likely already seen the liminal horror hit that managed to make audiences afraid of empty hallways and bad wallpaper. And now that so many of us have already entered the yellow labyrinth (some of us more than once), the time has come to discuss the spoiler-filled details that make the movie so fascinating in the first place.
And if there’s one element here that makes the Backrooms movie stand out from any previous lore/mythology, it has to be the genius addition of the Still Life entities. Warped recreations of real people that somehow wandered into the Complex, these misremembered creatures are responsible for some of the most disturbing imagery of 2026 – as well as laugh-out-loud memes created by one of the film’s very own concept artists.
However, true to Parsons’ word that the movie would rely heavily on practical effects, each of these distorted monsters was brought to life by real actors under heavy layers of makeup and prosthetics (with the occasional splash of CGI enhancements). While Anora and If I Had Legs I’d Kick You actress Ivy Wolk wasn’t among these performers, despite what Letterboxd might have you believe, the creature cast did benefit from veteran players with plenty of genre experience.
For starters, Alien: Romulus alumni Robert Bobroczkyi (who previously brought that film’s horrific Offspring to life during its most memorable sequence) plays the flick’s main antagonist, the Still Life version of Captain Clark. And though there was some obvious CGI involved in making the character’s peg-leg and nightmarish face more believable, Bobroczkyi’s monstrous performance and his natural 7’7″ frame helped to make that final chase sequence a clear highlight among this year’s genre offerings.
The film’s Texas-Chain-Saw-inspired “dinner” scene also features a freaky collection of less-aggressive Still Life creatures in the form of the Bearded Man, the Red-Headed Woman and, strangest of them all, the cheekily named “Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life” (who earned this title among fans and crewmembers as a reference to his apparent affinity for lamps).
While this was the first major horror outing for both Patrick Baynham (The Bearded Man) and Dana Mahmood (Archibald), Rhiannon Roberts has worked as a stunt performer in everything from Yellowjackets to HBO’s The Last of Us adaptation – which is probably why The Red-Headed Woman is the most active out of Clark’s impromptu “family.” That being said, the Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life is my personal favorite of the bunch simply because his anachronistic outfit suggests that the Backrooms phenomenon might be a lot older than the Async Foundation. I also love how hard he tries to be helpful with that little light of his!
That might be it for the Still Life entities, but I think horror fans will also be pleased to hear that the film’s Found Footage prologue stars none other than Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City star Avan Jogia as Naren Warne – and American Mary herself Katharine Isabelle also shows up in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo at Mary’s house party towards the middle of the story (though I have a feeling that she originally had a bigger part that was likely cut for time).
At the end of the day, Parsons’ Backrooms may have been an auteur-driven project motivated by the young director’s unique take on the classic creepypasta, but film has always been a collective artform, so it’s fun to see just how many talented performers it takes to bring this kind of supernatural nightmare to life in a way that connects with so many people.
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